Singapore's DBS bulks up in Asia with ANZ's retail and wealth units

Singapore 's largest bank, DBS Group , is buying ANZ 's retail banking and wealth management units in five Asian countries, in a bid to consolidate its presence in Asia. The Singapore bank will pay 110 million Singapore dollars ($79.06 million) above book value for the portfolios in Singapore, Hong Kong , China , Taiwan and Indonesia , giving it access to about 1.3 million customers, including more than 100,000 private wealth clients. DBS CEO Piyush Gupta called the deal "reasonable-sized" and hinted that it played to DBS' strengths. Speaking to CNBC's "Capital Connection " on Monday, Gupta acknowledged the deal would open the bank up to a sizable group of customers in the mass affluent space. "We are a good mass affluent player and we can integrate [them] into our own business at minimal marginal cost," he said. "Mass affluent" refers to clients who are considered to be a...